Christmas 2012

Yes we did it!! we escaped Chalong Bay
with a fridge full of food, a new asymmetrical headsail for light
winds and plans for a couple of weeks “holiday” for us, sailing,
diving, and enjoying the stunning environment. It was just the
batteries that were preventing the trip from being perfect. They were
not holding charge and the new ones would be delivered after
Christmas so we were keeping an eye on the volts.

Our first stop was on the north west
coast of Koh Yao Yai, (N 08°
05.162, E 98°31.581)
the large island in the middle of the bay. The sky was looking
very dark as a large storm cell approached so we quickly rushed for
shelter and anchored in a little bay just in time to fill the water
bottles, have a very cold shower and wash the decks in this deserted bay. Early the next
day we explored a channel into the interior of the island, through the
mangroves to a fish farm where grouper were being bred for
restaurants. The mangrove channels were so peaceful and full of bird
life – sea eagles soaring high above the forest, flashes of
brilliant blue and orange alerted us to the presence of kingfishers
of many sizes.

Next it was to the extraordinary island
of Koh Phanak, (N 08°11.199,
E 98°29.137)
full of caves, hongs (Thai for room) and nooks to explore in
the dinghy. The water was not clear enough to go swimming here but
the scenery was wonderful. There were lots of tourist boats here when
we arrived, but they left before sunset and we had the place to
ourselves. Early the next morning a kayak guide took us in through a
cave to the hong. The tide was too high to walk in and too low for
the dinghy. Besides there is about 100m of very dark tunnel where
there were bats and other cave dwellers. The cave opened out into a
beautiful chamber open to the sky were there were green jungle trees
and monkeys on a sandy floor. It was like being in a cathedral!!
beautiful and serene,the birds and monkey calls like a choir singing.

there
were lots of tourist boats here too but we were able to take our own
dinghy into the large hong and explore on our own. Last time we were
with a guide and it was a rush to see everything but now we were
enjoying it without the aid of a guide. We circumnavigated the island
by dinghy and marvelled at the amazing rock formations.

The
next day we took Lupari2 to the Muslim stilt village, Koh Panyee. (N
08°20.504,
E 98°30.307)This
was to be the furthest north we will probably get. It is an amazing
little village nestled on the side of a high rock. They are
traditionally fishing people but the tourist industry has arrived and
many of the families now are involved with the lunchtime tourist
trade. There are several restaurants that cater for the influx of
thousands of hungry tourists and many souvenir stalls hope to benefit
too. We arrived in the late afternoon when the tourists had gone and
we went for a very pleasant stroll along the boardwalks through the
village. The school children were playing futsal on the floating
“stadium” and families were sitting outside their houses enjoying
the beautiful evening after the lunch time rush. We did wonder what
happened when the ball was kicked out of the playing field – I
guess someone got wet . . .

Dogs,
alcohol and pig meat are all banned from this island, but there is a
thriving cat community. We enjoyed our evening here and enjoyed the
peacefulness of the mid channel anchorage.

We explored the nearby channels by dinghy. There were caves where
ancient (possibly Neanderthal) people had painted cave walls with
pictures and there were reportedly caves to explore on foot. We found
the cave art and it was lovely to see it without all the security,
entrance fees, special “sacred” significance, interpretive guides
etc. They were there in a cave on the side of the river and if you
were interested you could take photos of them. Many long tails took
visitors to see them too.

Images of Koh Panyee, Muslim stilt village

Our
next anchorage was Koh Roi (N 08°
11.550, E 98°
36.593)near the top of Koh Yao Noi (Little Koh Yao) after a day
where we sailed mostly with our new enormous headsail. It does what
it is meant to do – pull us along in light air. We are very happy
with it. This was a very pretty island too with its own small “hong”
where we took the dinghy and admired the geology of these amazing
structures. Here we met some German visitors who had hired a yacht
and had run out of cooking gas. The evening was a very pleasant one
with our gas cooking their pizzas and all enjoying the results. This
was the night of the Solstice.

We
were heading for the other Koh Hong Group on the Krabi side of the
bay. The new headsail did its trick again and we picked up a mooring
at this really busy island. We took the dinghy ashore and went on the
forest walk which was cool and shady, There was still evidence of the
2004 tsunami, longtails in the forest undergrowth many hundreds of
metres from the water. We realised how devastating and widespread the
tsunami was.

It
is not only tsunami damage that wreaked havoc on Thailand's coral
islands and environments. So many thousands of tourist visiting all
using the water is polluting the coral structures and causing them to
die - it is being loved to death . .

We did not stay here as it was
not all that comfortable so we took off for Ao Nang Bay on the
mainland of Thailand near Krabi Town.

Ao Nang (N 08°01.606 E 98° 49.028)was a pretty bay with a strip of tourist shops along the water front and a raft of longtails on the beach waiting for the tourist traffic to the islands. We did our Christmas shopping here, hired a motorbike to go to Krabi to get some Christmas supplies of food. The road to Krabi was the most stunning road we have ever been on. The scenery was like that in PhangNa Bay but without the water - lush jungle instead.

Christmas Eve we moved to Railay Bay (N 08°00.404 E 98° 49.956)which is very popular with sailors and climbers and went for a long walk through the forest between the steep hills. We were excited to hear the calls of wild gibbons in the forest - happily wild. Then in the evening we, along with good friends went ashore to look for some Christmas activity. One resort had entertainment - traditional dancing and fire twirling on the beach, then it was a light meal of spring rolls and then home to wait for "Santa".

our anchorage at Railay bayA little shrine in the rocks

another shrine - one for the fishermen yesthey are phalluses

beautifully carved fruit display at Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Day dawned bright and windy. We spent a quiet morning talking to family and friends. And our one Christmas guest was a huge rhinoceros beetle.

Boxing Day dawned and after breakfast we hoisted the sails and had the best day's sail for many, many months. 7 hours without motor to Chalong Bay. We were back and ready for our new batteries to be delivered.